Millerton board focuses on safety

MILLERTON— In light of the recent storm and the holiday weekend, the Village Board considered a number of potential safety measures and precautions at its meeting on Monday, May 21.

Following a major storm that took place the week before the meeting, Mayor Debbie Middlebrook raised the issue of how the area’s AT&T service was rendered unavailable, presenting a major concern to the village’s water department. She explained that the department is supposed to be available 24/7 to the public, but due to the storm, it was unable to receive any alarms or calls.

Middlebrook discussed the option of using a second service provider — a simple prepaid service plan. She suggested reaching out to the town of Amenia to learn of its back up plans.

“It’s just having more back up,” Highway Supervisor ​Coleman Lawrence said on a later date. “You can never have enough.”

Village Trustee Matthew Hartzog spoke of the county’s participation in a study to combine its emergency medical services (EMS) with EMS in Dover, Amenia and Millerton/North East. The North East Fire District’s main priorities include ensuring a 15-minute response time, keeping taxes low and maintaining an open dialogue among all involved. Hartzog said the North East Fire District would be willing to engage in the potential consolidation of EMS services.

On Tuesday, May 8, Hartzog attended an emergency preparedness lecture at the Pine Plains Free Library led by Emergency Manager Coordinator William Beale from the Dutchess County Department of Emergency Response. Hartzog later reached out to Beale to see if he could bring the presentation to Millerton to educate the community. Beale said it would be possible to organize a presentation at some point during the summer. Hartzog also mentioned that the North East-Millerton Library expressed a willingness to host the presentation in its annex.

“I’m glad that this is in committee, but the way things have been going these last few weeks, I think… people need to be reminded of having emergency kits for themselves,” community member DeLora Brooks said. “I’m concerned about those who won’t have the resources to help themselves… Drills are paramount — you learn by practicing them.”

As another safety precaution, Hartzog said he talked with the Department of Transportation (DOT) to see if it could conduct a traffic study to possibly reduce the village speed limit on routes 22 and 44, from 30 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour. Though he was informed by the DOT that the speed limit on state roads can’t be less than 30 miles per hour, he was told that a traffic study could likely be undertaken to further assess road safety. Hartzog said he hopes to have the DOT evaluate signage on the roadways, so that drivers can have adequate warning when making their way through the village.

Also at the meeting, during the police report, Officer in Charge Dave Rudin gave an update of incidents during April — a total of 58. There were 34 in the village and 24 in the town; there were 15 arrests, with seven in the village and eight in the town. The arrests involved DWIs, misdemeanors, unlawful possession of marijuana and one major case of animal cruelty.